Blog Archives
2 Peter (Program #12) – The Divine Government (5)
The apostle Peter’s writings are short but they are packed with God’s economy. Today we come to the last life study program from Peter.
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Malachi (Program #1) – The Introductory Word and Jehovah’s Love of Jacob and His Dealing with the Sons of Levi
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and the central thought of the prophecy of Malachi is the correcting of the priests among Israel for the coming of Christ as the Messenger of God and the advising of the people of Israel for the appearing of Christ as the Sun of Righteousness.
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2 Peter (Program #11) – The Divine Government (4)
The apostle Peter tells us in chapter 3 of his second epistle that the day of the Lord will come as a thief and that we should expect and hasten the day of God. The apostle Paul on the other hand refer to today as “man’s day” in 1 Corinthians 4:3, where man is put in the place of judgment. But the day is coming where the Lord will judge and that day is called the day of the Lord or the day of God in 2 Peter chapter 3.
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Zechariah (Program #15) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (6)
We all have our own favorite verses throughout the Bible. For many of us, some of our favorite verses are found in pages of the Old Testament. And we tend to avoid the Old Testament often in terms of its bigger meaning because it does seem to be somewhat veiled and obscure. However, the real meaning of all of our verses in the Old Testament match that of the revelation in the New Testament. And, that is that at the heart of God’s desire is an economy. In the life study of Zechariah, God’s economy is summarized: “The center of God’s economy is to have a Body to express Christ. Eventually, this Body will be Christ’s Bride to match Him as His counterpart and to come down to earth with Him to carry out the final step of God’s economy. Today, the world situation is ready for His coming, but the Lord has not yet gained His counterpart. Therefore, He has no way to come back. He is still waiting.”
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2 Peter (Program #10) – The Divine Government (3)
No doubt we have all heard and said that one day to the Lord is like a thousand years. Actually, this is a rough quotation from 2 Peter 3, a chapter that speaks both of the Lord’s second coming and the righteous and just judgment that will occur at the time of His coming. Of course, to us it seems as if the Lord has delayed His coming already for two thousand years, but to Him, it’s just a couple of days. Actually Peter tells us that this delay is not motivated by the Lord’s indifference or because He is arbitrary about the timing, but rather because He is long-suffering towards us. That means He is mercifully granting us more time, more time to be mature and to be prepared for His coming so that none will unnecessarily perish.
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Zechariah (Program #14) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (5)
Any careful consideration of the history of God’s people, Israel, reveals that for much of that history, Israel has suffered. Paul, even spoke in Romans, of Israel’s heart being hardened until the age of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. We know that, that fulfillment is complete at the Lord’s second coming, so what about Israel after that time? Well the prophet Zechariah is full of encouraging prophecies concerning the eventual household salvation of Israel at the Lord’s return especially in chapter 12. Listen to Zechariah in one of the sweetest verses in all of Scripture: “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they will look upon Me, whom they pierced; and they will wail over Him with wailing as for an only son and cry bitterly over Him with bitter crying as for a firstborn son.”
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2 Peter (Program #9) – The Divine Government (2)
2 Peter chapter one is one of the most profound chapters in the New Testament. It is full of solid, nourishing words conveying the central thought of the entire New Testament teaching. In this chapter, Peter touches both life and truth as he speaks concerning the precious faith that we all have received. He also strongly points us to the sure word of the Scripture. But then in chapter two, he turned dramatically back to God’s governmental judgment, a major theme of his first epistle. But here the righteous judgment of God that Peter described in great details is not general or vague but rather it is intensely focused on the false teachers who had begun to permeate the church and lead God’s people away from the very item that Peter had poured out in chapter one.
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Zechariah (Program #13) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (4)
In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, we are given extraordinary revelations of the New Testament Christ. We see Him as the Shepherd coming in an intimate and loving way to care for His scattered flock. We also see Him being rejected and even crucified for our redemption. But one of the most striking views of Christ in Zechariah is as the coming Triumphant Warrior to fight against Anti-Christ, the embodiment of Satan and to rescue God’s people, Israel, from their destiny on this earth, the war of Armageddon.
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2 Peter (Program #8) – The Divine Government (1)
The apostle Peter had a strong reaction to the apostasy that were spreading into the church near the end of his life. In fact he wrote his two epistles largely as an inoculation against the heretical teachings that were gradually corrupting the faith of the saints. Especially regarding the matter of the Lord’s second coming in glory.
In 2 Peter, he first gives an eye-witness account of seeing the Lord Jesus revealed in glory as a foreshadow of His promise return . Then he points the believers to the word of God, specifically the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, as he says in chapter 1:19 “and we have the prophetic word made more firm, to which you do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;” But after these two strong encouragements he goes on to speak of the coming judgment of the righteous God especially on those false teachers who were defiling the saints and leading them astray.
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Zechariah (Program #12) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (4)
The universe that God so marvelously created is full of wonderful things for us, His creatures to experience. For all the beautiful scenes He created for us to enjoy, He gave us eyes to see. To hear the birds sing, He gave us ears to hear. And even for us to ponder the mysteries all around us, we have minds that can learn and understand. But what about contacting the most marvelous thing of all, God Himself? If we attempt to touch God using any of these faculties, no doubt we will be sorely disappointed. Because to touch the spiritual and divine person of God, we must use the faculty created in man uniquely for that purpose. And the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah give us a clear verse telling us what that part of man is.
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